The International Olympic Committee has confirmed the suspension of the
ticketing process for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, following allegations
of rule breaches by National Olympic committee officials and agencies
handling London 2012 Games tickets.

Suspension: ticket sales for the Sochi Winter Olympics have been haltedPhoto: AFP

The IOC said in a statement: "Following the recent Sunday Times allegations that some national Olympic committees and authorised ticket resellers were in breach of 2012 Games ticketing policy, the IOC has convened its Ethics Commission to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the story.

"During this process we have asked the Sochi organising committee to temporarily delay the planning for its international ticketing programme while we review the situation.

"The move is purely precautionary. Sochi 2014 is not affected by the allegations and we continue to work closely with them, as they develop their ticketing programme for the Olympic Winter Games.”

On Tuesday Telegraph Sportreported that the IOC would be approaching a major auditor or law firm to conduct a review of the exposed failings.

The review is likely to examine whether the regulations applying to authorised ticket resellers, the checks applied to hospitality agents, and the licensing of agents and different categories of tickets are effective.

IOC ethics commission head Pacquette Girard Zapelli is due in London in the next week to gather evidence for a separate investigation into the ticket scandal, with six to eight agents and Olympic officials expected to be investigated following the allegations.

They include Serbian, Lithuanian, Israeli and Chinese ticket resellers who are alleged to have offered Olympic tickets for inflated resale prices outside of their jurisdiction, and the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Spiros Caprolos.

He is alleged to have sought extra tickets directly from Lord Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, for its ticket agent to then on-sell.